Hi everyone,
I haven't really been an active poster within the community (this is my 2nd post) but with the UK being one of the earliest Nationals for this year, hopefully any insight found from the matchups I played will be useful for those with Nationals coming up.
I've been playing X-wing for about a year now and was fortunate enough to come across a great bunch of guys at a FLGS in central London called Darksphere. We eventually formed the 186th Squadron (named after the address of the store) and had 18 of us attend the Nationals.
In the end I came 2nd place behind my team mate Jesper Hills, who's write-up can be found here.
List theory
So I decided to do the sensible thing and changed my list a week before Nationals. In the end I managed to squeeze in a mammoth 4 practise games before going.
The list I ran in the end was the following:
Chewbacca - Predator, Luke, MF, C3PO
Corran Horn - PTL, R2D2, FCS
I had previously done well with RAC Whisper having won 2 tournaments in the run up to nationals (this was before the de-cloak change) so I was originally planning to fly that since I was familiar with the list and saw a similar list had just won the Irish regionals. And then it happened...
The weekend before nationals there was a local tournament so I signed up to get some practise games in.
Saying I did horribly was an understatement, losing 3 matches in a row then decided to call it a day since the 4th match was a bye. Whisper died in every match. The problem I had was whereas before if I guessed my opponents movements wrong, I often had an escape route with the de-cloak even if I might be facing the wrong way. However, now if I guessed wrong I had to just bend over and take it (sorry Whisper).
I had to come up with a new list...and fast.
Fortunately my sparring partner (James Dowdall, also known as Dodo on the forums) and I had done some meta analysis and theory crafting over the last few weeks so the ground work was already done. There were a lot of two turret builds and two ship lists (including IG88) at all the recent regionals so I was gambling on the meta staying the same for Nationals. We have a few really good swarm players from 186th but I felt the 60mins rounds, dependency on MoV and crit heavy meta was unfavourable for them so I was hoping they would get knocked out in the Swiss and hopefully not draw against them. I was expecting a high volume of token stackers like Soontir/IG88 who are just a pain to do any damage too, especially for turrets due to autothrusters.
So ultimately, I felt I needed a list which was anti 2 ship and could do enough damage to punch through stackers.
With this in mind, I built both Chewy and Corran to be able to tank 2 ships. Chewy can gain 2 evades per turn and if they had gunner I could afford to let one damage through if I needed. Corran with R2 was an awesome end game ship and should be able to take pretty much any other ship 1v1 if needed due to the regen. Either way, both targets are a pain in the ass to kill, especially if they are down to just 1 ship.
In terms of damage output, Corran's double tap was ideal against token stackers as I could use the first shot to strip tokens and then get damage through with the 2nd. I went for FCS over AdvS with Corran too, again because of its superiority against 2 ship lists vs being able to arc dodge. With Chewy, I knew I would be evading 90% of the time so I took predator and gunner Luke so I could maintain high damage output without needing actions. I was never previously a fan of Gunner Luke as it is so expensive but in this case it seemed to fit my requirements perfectly as I would rarely have chance to take focus actions.
I had to sacrifice engine which was a huge but calculated risk. If I came across a swarm, I might as well consider Chewy toast. However, going back to the meta analysis, taking Luke and predator would be better against token stacking 2 ship lists.
So with the list I managed to get 4 practise games in, of which i went 2-2. All of them against IG88 (sigh) and one of them against the eventual winner Jesper in which I lost quite horribly to in practise. The problem was even with Luke and predator, damage output was too slow against IG88 due to PTL and autothrusters. Let’s hope I don’t come across Ig88s too often then…
My expectations? I would be super happy going 3-3 in the Swiss.
Day 1
Woke up completely knackered after playing in the Imperial Assault Nationals the day before (in which I also came 2nd in). For those who haven’t played it, imp ass is an absolute blast and would highly recommend checking out the competitive skirmish scene.
Apologies in advance for having no photos prior to the finals and missing some names. Lists are also from memory so might not be 100% accurate.
Round 1 – James Dowdall
IG88B (PTL, HLC, AT, AdvS, dampeners) + 4Z
Oh dear... My first match was against my good friend and aforementioned sparring partner. I was gutted about this matchup as we knew we had to go 5-1 in the Swiss to guarantee making the cut. James was one of the guys I would put money on making top 4 as he was really consistent in tournaments having very rarely missed the cut.
My plan was to take out the Zs as fast as possible as I could tank a single IG88 at end game. I just had to make sure I didn’t let the Zs line up land too much damage on Chewy. With luke and predator, damage should very consistent against the Zs and I should be able to take one out every other turn.
We both setup facing each other in the same corner with 4 asteroids clustered in my opposing corner. It was a setup I had been testing in the practise sessions and seemed to work well if I was out gunned, the idea being that I turn towards my cluster of asteroid forcing the swarm to fight within it or disperse.
I turned away with Chewy using him as bait towards the asteroids forcing a favourable fight there. James ended up switched to Corran as Chewy was too elusive around the asteroid cluster. He managed to take him down to 1 hull but James just missed a block on Corran after second guessing himself which allowed me to get Corran away and regen his shield. All the while, Chewy was busy swatting Zs. Once all the Zs were down it was just a matter of time before IG88 went down.
100-0
Round 2
2x IG88 – VI, Mangler, Dampeners, FCS
I totally derped on this match. I setup the asteroids in a cluster in my corner as per the previous round. However for some reason I decided that the 2nd round of Nationals would be a great time to test something completely new….
I decided to use Corran as bait this time instead of Chewy and deployed him opposite the IG88s. I was thinking I could 2 turn towards my asteroid cluster with Corran and since he has a 5 straight he should be fast enough to run and k-turn. Instead the IG88s just boosted and 3 banked towards Corran and he gets blown to space dust on turn 2 or 3...
Lesson learnt...don't try stupid new ideas at Nationals.
0-100
Round 3
Mangler outrider Dash + 2B
So now I couldn’t afford to drop another match and the pressure was on. I was up against Dash with mangler so I could tank it if he was the last man standing so I decided to focus on the easier to kill B-wings first. The plan worked and I progressively took out each B and then Dash before time.
100-0
Round 4
Chewy Leebo
My list was designed to counter this kind of 2 ship list so I was pleased to come up against it. I setup to joust and we both decide to go man mode. If he went for Corran I should survive and be able to tank up and regen. If he went for Chewy…well that’s ok too because he’s Chewy.
Leebo took quite a bit of damage on the initial engagement so I continued to hunt him down whilst tanking the hits. Leebo went down fairly fast despite a few uses of determination (never used it before with Leebo but it was a cool combo). After that it was just mopping up chewy whilst turtling against his 3 damage.
100-0
Round 5 – Cadan Jones
Soontir, Carnor Jax, Royal guard - all with AT, Stealth, PTL
This was by far my toughest match in the Swiss. His interceptors were particularly hard for Chewy to get damage through with all their upgrades and Soontir could arc dodge Corran. Carnor also severely messes up Corran if he gets close. Cadan had also won a regionals with this list so I knew he was good with it (and he was).
My plan was to take out Carnor if possible and hope that I can tank the other 2 interceptors long enough to survive. I setup asteroids in the corner again in a cluster again and decided to use Corran as bait setting him up opposite the interceptors with the intention of turning towards my asteroid cluster (clearly I hadn’t learnt my lesson from round 2). The logic was that this would give Chewy a better opportunity to meet in the middle with a front arc on the interceptors.
By turn 3 Carnor manages to get into range 1 of Corran! Yikes! Chewy manages to get the odd shot on RG but was struggling to get damage through most of the time due to thrusters.
With Corran on the defensive and down to one hull, Soontir manages to get into range one and rolls 3 hits. I’d pretty much accepted in my head that this was to be a loss. I needed 3 natural evades or I was out of the running.
I roll 3 evades! The game should have been Cadan's at that point but the dice gods are with me today. I managed to slow Corran into my corner of the board with Corran forcing Soontir to speed past in front of Corran. On the other side of the asteroid cluster Carnor makes a risky move going aggressive against Chewy and bumps, losing his actions. Chewy manages to kill Carnor.
Time gets called with RG on 1 hull and Soontir still healthy. I scrape on by to the next round.
35ish - 0
Round 6 – Kevin Sharpes
Very Fat Han (predator, C3PO, MF, R2, cluster missiles, engine), slightly podgy Jake (Prockets, PTL, autothrusters)
As I look at my final matchup, I felt my chances were pretty good. It was a 2 ship list which I am able to deal with and once Jake had used his prockets his damage could be ignored so long as I kill Han quickly.
We traded shots for a few rounds with Kevin being rather unlucky with his rolls, with several rounds only rolling 2 hits after all his re-rolls. Conversely my dice were pretty good so with a few double taps to strip Han’s tokens and Chewy doing consistent damage Han starts going down fairly quickly.
At one point Jake manages to unload his prockets on chewy landing a mammoth 5 hits taking Chewy down to 4 hull. However, Han falls soon after and then it’s just a case of mopping up Jake.
We decide to celebrate by going for a monster curry in central Birmingham. The food was amazing but I feel for my opponents who have to put up with the aftermath the next dayJ
Day 2
Round 1 - Matt Lloyd
Soontir (PTL, Autothrusters), Howl (determination), 4 AP
Woke up at 630am due to nerves. I now have a new goal for the tournament - get top 4 for those sweet templates.
I was up against Matt Lloyd who I had also played in the Imperial Assault tournament on Friday. He was a really nice guy to play against so I was looking forward to this match.
My plan was to focus on taking out Ties and ignore Soontir. I should be able to pop a tie every turn or two and once he is down to just Soontir I could tank him as he wasn’t running targeting computer
I approached around the outside with chewy as I knew he would be the main target. Corran went straight towards ties as a distraction. I have a tough choice between Chewy taking a 4 fwd which would likely keep him out of range from the back row of ties or take a 3 bank so I could get a closer turn in and get behind the Ties next turn. I go with the riskier 3 bank and manage to place an asteroid between me and the ties. Through some miracle I take no damage on chewy from 4 ties and howl!
Next turn Howl is forced to manoeuvres through an asteroid. Poor Matt rolls a crit and then draws minor explosion. He rolls another damage from it taking Howl down to 1 hull with no actions…. Chewy turns Howls into a ball of flame and over the next few turns I proceed to finish off the other Ties one by one. On occasion it was tempting to take a range 1 shot on Soontir but I decided to stick to the plan. Time runs out with only Soontir left alive.
Quarter Finals – Nathan Hoyle
Super Dash (PTL, FCS, Kyle, Engine), Corran (VI, R2, FCS)
One more win to get the sweet templates...the pressure is on but I’m happy to see a 2 ship list. VI Corran could be focused down with Chewy if need be but the plan was to focus Super Dash if I could catch him as he had enough firepower to punch through my defences regularly.
I setup to joust along one side of the board and both Chewy and Dash take some damage. Dash then turns into the centre and does a very good job of skirting range 3 with me struggling to keep Corran in arc and range of him. If I continue like this, Corran is just going to tear me a new one so next turn I divert towards his Corran knowing that it will take Dash a few turns to turn round and get back into the fight.
I nearly fly Chewy off the board risking a 3 bank towards the edge of the board in the hope that I will be out of range of Dash as he re-approaches. It doesn’t pay off but at least I can stay on the board with a 1 turn. I take a ton of damage leaving Chewy on a bum clenching 4 hull.
My opponent decides to go man mode and k turns Corran in the hope that he can finish off Chewy this turn. He whiffs his first shot and Chewy lands a big hit taking Corran out before he can double tap putting me back into the game.
With Dash closing in fast I manage to trap him into the corner with Chewy causing him to bump and both my ships in range one preventing him from firing. Next turn Dash melts to Gunner Luke and his whopping big gun.
Semi Finals – Matt Colwell
IG88 B+C - Manglers, PTL, Autothrusters, inertial dampeners, AdvS
Templates secured now so I’m much more relaxed! It would be great if I get into the finals but I’m already overjoyed at finishing top 4.
I’m up against Matt who had won previously won a regionals with this list. However, with both his IG88s using Manglers I felt I could tank this and of Chewy was a great counter to the Manglers ability.
In my 4 practise games with this list, all against IG88, I had struggled to get Chewy land enough damage when out of arc even with Luke and predator so I needed a new strategy. Suddenly it hit me…YT1300 has 2 k-turns. I was so used to arc dodging that I hardly ever used them in the past but it occurred to me that I could actually just joust the IG88s instead.
The plan worked like a charm. I setup in the corners and we both went man mode charging right at each other. We both laid down some damage and I decided to use Chewy to block for a turn with so I was just taking hits from 1 IG88 and allowing me to double tap with Corran. The next turn k turn with Chewy and then again…and again. In the entire match I must have done around 4-5 k turns resulting in a 100-0 win!
Finals – Jesper Hills
2 IG88
Jesper and I managed to co-ordinate our write up for the final match so rather than writing the same thing twice you can find Jesper's report here.